The International Air Transport Association made a revised forecast for 2006 industry losses. It is estimated that airlines will lose $1.7 billion, with a fuel bill of $115 billion calculated for an average oil price of US$68 per barrel (Brent). This is a significant improvement on the previous loss forecast of $3.0 billion made in June that was based on an oil price of $66 per barrel for a total fuel bill of $112 billion.

A majority of American travelers believe it´s worth visiting New Orleans to help the city´s recovery, but 90 percent say they have no plans to visit the downtrodden city during the next year. According to a Web survey of 2,000 travelers conducted by TripAdvisor.com, 24 percent “strongly” agree with the statement that it´s worth visiting the city to aid its recovery and another 38 percent “somewhat” agree. But when asked if they plan to visit New Orleans during the next year, only 10 percent said “yes.”

The government of Grenada has tabled a number of bills in its Parliament that will not only benefit the general business environment but bring major advantage to the island tourism´s industry. Receiving its first reading at a recent sitting of the House of Representatives was the Hotel Aid Amendment Bill 2006, the License Amendment Act 2006 and the Civil Aviation Amendment Act 2006.

Preliminary results for the first four months of 2006 point to some 236 million international tourist arrivals worldwide, or 10 million more than in the same period of 2005, reflecting the sustained growth in global tourism demand started in 2004. These are the findings based on the data gathered by the United Nations specialized agency, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), for January through April 2006, as presented in the latest issue of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer.

Travel in the United States this upcoming Independence Day weekend will be busier than ever despite high fuel prices, travel and automobile group AAA said on Tuesday. Some 40.7 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more this weekend, a 1.2 percent increase from last year, according to AAA´s travel survey.

Although they are still worried whether or not sufficient snow will fall by the time the ski season begins, Chile´s ski industry expects are predicting a 15 percent increase in visitors during this year´s season in Chile. Massive investments during the off-season and strong preseason ticket sales suggest a lucrative season well into October.